Picking up your trash is even more important now that the Boulder City Council recently passed an ordinance that adds a civil violation to the city’s trash violation process.

Starting Saturday, March 18, the ordinance will make it easier for police officers to issue you a trash citation. Under the previous process, residents would receive a warning to clean up their trash by a certain deadline. If the violation was not fixed in time, an officer would have served the resident a criminal summons, which needs to be received in person and signed by the resident.

The new civil process still includes a warning to clean up by a certain deadline. However, instead of an officer needing to serve you a criminal summons in person, they can post the civil citation on your door or email it to your landlord. This change saves time for officers and makes it easier to deliver a citation.

The new process also established new fines:

• $100 for a first offense
• $250 for a second offense
• $500 for a third offense

Students can get free trash bags from Off-Campus Housing & Neighborhood Relations by stopping by their office in UMC 313.